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A study published Tuesday suggests that military deployment is not associated with suicide risk. The research, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found instead that being male, experiencing depression or manic-depressive disorder, and engaging in heavy or binge drinking are direct risk factors for suicide amongst service members.

The news may surprise those who assumed a correlation between combat exposure and the increased number of military suicides in recent years. In 2012, there were 349 suicides, a record-high since the military began tracking such deaths in 2001. Suicide in the civilian population also increased during this time and has been higher than the military rate.

"The findings from this study are not consistent with the assumption that specific deployment-related characteristics, such as length of deployment, number of deployments, or combat experiences, are directly associated with increased suicide risk," wrote the authors, a group that included military and academic researchers. "Instead, the risk factors associated with suicide in this military population are consistent with civilian populations, including male sex and mental disorders."

The study is the first to examine the relationship between deployment and suicide using a robust set of data. The researchers analyzed survey responses from the Millennium Cohort Study, which follows more than 150,000 veterans over time to determine the incidence of long-term health outcomes.

Rajeev Ramchand, a senior behavioral and social scientist for the RAND Corporation, which has looked at military suicide closely, said the study is a "huge step forward" in providing researchers with sound data.

Ramchand added, however, that the study is unlikely to be the last word on whether or not deployment plays a role when service members take their own lives. That experience, he said, could increase a person's risk for mental illness or exacerbate stresses like marital discord.

The research also had some limitations, which the authors acknowledged. The Millennium Cohort data only spanned from 2001 to 2008, whereas the spike in suicides began in 2005 and has accelerated in recent years. The data also included just 83 suicides, a small pool from which to draw conclusions. A future study will include responses from up to 2012, which will reflect the time period during which the suicide rate increased markedly and allow researchers to rely on broader data. That research is expected to be complete in 2014.

For families and service members who strongly believe deployment and suicide are intertwined, the study's lead author, Cynthia LeardMann, a senior epidemiologist with the Department of Deployment Health Research in San Diego, said that there are likely cases where a deployment led to a suicide death, but that the study shows no direct relationship in the military population. She noted that mental health diagnoses in the military have increased in recent years and that more research is needed to better understand that trend.

Dr. Nancy Crum-Cianflone, principal investigator for the Millennium Cohort Study, said the study makes clear that service members are at greater risk for suicide if they have a mental illness or substance abuse problem and should get treatment accordingly.

"The main risk factor is not that you deployed," she said. "That’s not where people should get concerned."

What do you think about the study's findings? Do you believe that deployment plays a role in military suicide? Share your thoughts in the comments.